1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates generally to computer systems and, more specifically, to a method and system for controlling the calibration of movements associated with pointing device events.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems have become increasingly interactive with computer users. The advent of the personal computer provided a dedicated computer, keyboard, and a display device, such as a monitor, to nearly every computer user. Further developments in operating systems such as graphical user interfaces and multimedia support have resulted in a highly interactive experience for computer users. Pointing devices such as mice, light pens, digitizing tablets, trackballs, touch pads, and touch screens have provided the user with additional control and interactivity. In the future, data gloves and gesture recognition are expected to further improve the ability of the user to point to objects or commands that the user wishes to process.
The movement of pointing device by a user generates pointing device events. These pointing device events are used by the computer system and interact with various applications/drivers/modules operating within the computer system. Once such interaction is to control the movement of a cursor, which itself may interact with the various applications/driver/modules operating within the computer system. Since pointing devices are controlled by a user (e.g., via the movement of a hand), a recognized need has been to customize how the movement of the cursor reacts to the movement of the pointing device by the user.
One commonly used device for customizing the movement of the cursor is with a pointing device interface module. In certain instances, the rate at which the cursor moves is defined as pixels (of the display device) per a defined length in a particular direction of movement by the pointing device (e.g., 300 horizontal pixels of resolution per 1 inch of horizontal movement of the pointing device). With the pointing device interface module, a user is able to select (e.g., sliding a slider back and forth) a particular rate at which the cursor is moved. Typically, the user decides upon a particular rate based upon trial and error.
There are, however, many issues associated with this trial and error process. Many users do not have the sophistication to operate the pointing device interface module, and even if they did, may not have the sophistication to select an optimal rate. Furthermore, even if the optimal rate of movement of the cursor was optimally selected by the user, this optimal rate of movement may change over time depending upon external factors (e.g., restrictions placed on a user's movement). Additionally, the optimal rate of movement of the cursor may vary depending upon a change in the particular application/module with which the cursor is interacting and/or a change in the screen resolution of the display. However, conventional pointing device interface modules are not capable of easily reacting to these changes. There is, therefore, a need for an apparatus, method, and system that can autonomously select an optimal rate of movement of the cursor and react to subsequent changes.